2018 NBA Playoff MVP Rankings: Can Anyone Catch LeBron James?

There is no official NBA postseason MVP award. There is a regular-season award and a Finals award, but not an equivalent to the NHL's Conn Smythe Trophy, which goes to the most valuable player throughout the playoffs. But let's imagine for a moment there were one. Who would be the front-runners?

Much of the criteria would remain the same as what it is in the regular season, but some aspects of it would necessarily be ratcheted up even more. For instance, winning would be paramount, particularly this early. You just couldn't justify giving it to someone whose team didn't make it out of the first round.

The other aspect that is essential is the player which does the most to carry his team to their success. For that reason, we've selected just one player from each series. In cases where the series is not yet decided, the advantage was given to the team that currently has the lead or home-court advantage.

They are ranked in ascending order here based on their overall performance and the above criteria.

8. Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics

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This was a tough call between Al Horford and Jaylen Brown. Horford is the rock of the team, and his steadiness is a big reason Boston has been able to stretch this series to a decisive Game 7, even with the Celtics gutted by injuries. But the plus-minus for this series is jaw-dropping.

Boston is plus-35 with Jaylen Brown and minus-49 without him. Pretty much whatever numbers come after that are irrelevant, but just in case, here they are anyway: He's the leading Celtics' scorer with 20.5 points per game on 57.1 percent true shooting, according to NBA.com.

It's very impressive that a youngster like Brown can step up in the way he has with Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart and Gordon Hayward all out. While rookie Jayson Tatum has drawn most of Giannis Antetokounmpo's attention, Brown has been matched up with Malcolm Brogdon or Khris Middleton most of the time and has a deterrent factor over 100 against each of them (meaning he's scoring more against them than against the average defender).

While neither is the Greek Freak, they're both excellent defenders, and Brown being able to score so efficiently against them is essential to the Celtics offense with its key playmakers out.

7. DeMar DeRozan, Toronto Raptors

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It was a slugfest of a series, with both teams holding court until Toronto clinched it in Game 6. DeMar DeRozan has stepped up more than ever in the postseason, averaging 26.7 points and 4.8 assists per game.

DeRozan (plus-5.5) leads the Raptors in plus-minus, and that's just the beginning. He carried the bulk of the load with a 29.2 percent usage rate, too, and that counts for something.

A poor Game 1 (which the Raptors won) and middling Game 6 sandbag his numbers. In the middle four games, he's averaged 31.8 points and 4.8 dimes.

DeRozan led all scorers with 32 points on 60.1 percent true shooting in Game 5, making it the decisive performance of the pivotal matchup and allowing his team to earn a double-digit win after back-to-back losses.

6. Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz

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The Jazz won the series, but the case for Rudy Gobert as MVP might have come in a loss. 

If there's any need for evidence that Gobert is the Jazz's MVP, look no further than the Game 5 meltdown that happened when he sat out with five fouls with 3:46 left in the third quarter. Over the eight minutes he sat, the Jazz's stout defense fell apart with a 152.3 defensive rating.

It wasn't the only factor, but Gobert's presence means the most to the Jazz, and that's been apparent in both the regular season and postseason. The resurgence that put them in the playoffs was a product of Gobert's healthy return, and in the playoffs, their net rating is 13.3 points better with him than without him. 

The Stifle Tower's rim protection has a powerful impact. First, he causes the Thunder, overall, to struggle at the rim. Their field-goal percentage in the restricted area drops from 60.4 to 56.0 when Gobert is on.

That made the Thunder less willing to charge in, and so they settled for more jumpers.

The Jazz's perimeter defenders were more aggressive, challenging three-point shooters and not worrying about the risk because they know Gobert will save them. As a result, the Thunder took 4.0 more threes per 100 possessions but made only one more. 

Since they couldn't make buckets at the rim or from behind the arc, they ended up shooting a lot of mid-range shots. If you want to see Gobert's impact, consider this: For the series, OKC had a 42.0 percent field-goal percentage when he was on the court and a 46.0 percent field-goal percentage when he wasn't. 

5. Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers

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Of all the decisions, this might have been the hardest. It was a toss-up between Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, but Simmons gets the nod based on the fact he played every game of the first round and came just five total assists short of being the first rookie ever to average a triple-double in his first postseason series.

As it was, he did post the first triple-double in a playoff series by a rookie since Magic Johnson in 1980. Simmons notched 17 points, 10 assists and 13 rebounds in Game 4, along with four steals.

For the series, Simmons had 91 points, 45 assists, 53 rebounds, 12 steals and three blocks. No player in league history has amassed those numbers in their first five playoff games.

Then you look at Simmons' defense, where he consistently guards all kinds of players, per NBA's matchup data. Simmons, a point guard, matched up against point guards 11 times, shooting guards 73 times, small forwards 113 times, power forwards 167 times and centers 18 times. He truly does guard all five positions.

In his 382 possessions, he yielded only 90 points while forcing 16 turnovers.

You can make a solid argument that as a two-way performer, this was the most complete first series by a rookie in NBA history.

4. Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors

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With Stephen Curry out for at least the first round, the Golden State Warriors really needed Kevin Durant to take over. At 28.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game, he did just that.

Perhaps the most significant thing for the Warriors was seeing Durant as more of a playmaker, averaging 5.2 dimes agains the San Antonio Spurs. That was also reflected in the on/off numbers. The Dubs' offensive rating was a plump 114.7 with Durant but an anemic 99.6 when he sat.

Overall, Golden State's net rating was 23.6 points better when Durant was playing.

However, this was not Durant's best performance, with his shooting percentages surprisingly low. His 60.6 true shooting percentage isn't exactly abysmal, but it's a fair-sized drop-off from the 64.0 he had during the regular season. The feel of the team wasn't the same, either.

They also were going against an aging Spurs team that was facing immense hardship after head coach Gregg Popovich's wife died earlier this month and assistant Ettore Messina filled in for Pop. It's probably fair to say that, at least in the West, the Spurs were the worst team in the playoffs.

It's not like the Warriors struggled with them. They handed San Antonio a gentleman's sweep, but they looked a lot more mortal than they did last year when they won their first 15 playoff games. While Durant was the MVP for the series, it might reinforce the notion that Curry is the team's most important player.

3. James Harden, Houston Rockets

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James Harden was the MVP of the Houston Rockets' first-round series, even if his numbers aren't quite what they were during the regular season. Harden and the Rockets had what can only be described as the ultimate "playing with their food" performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Space City will dilly-dally around, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there is an actual game being played but still effortlessly keeping it close. Then they'll suddenly shift into another gear for 10 minutes, and before you know it, they're up 20.

A lot of that has to do with Harden, who seems to flip a switch and then go wild. For example, in his last two games, he totaled 37 points in the third quarter, going 12-of-19 from the field and 6-of-11 from deep with an 83.8 true shooting percentage. The Rockets' net rating in those two quarters is plus-94.7.

By comparison, he has just five points on 1-of-11 shooting in the first quarter. The Rockets' net rating in those two quarters is minus-1.7.

When Harden shifted up, he had a gear the Minnesota Timberwolves couldn't match.

That's not to dismiss the lackadaisical portions of the series. That's why he's third instead of first. But it appears Harden might be trying to reserve as much energy as he can, waiting for the later rounds—and, in particular, the Warriors—before he goes full throttle all game.

2. Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans

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The decision to put Anthony Davis as the MVP of the Pelicans-Trail Blazers series was easy. Deciding between him and LeBron James for the top overall spot was much harder, but in the end, the decision to give the nod to Bron over Brow came down to Davis having more help.

Not many had the New Orleans Pelicans even making it out of the first round. All 22 ESPN experts, for instance, had the Trail Blazers winning out.

Davis had other ideas, though, straight up Brow-beating them in four straight. In doing so, he averaged a Western Conference postseason-best 33.0 points to go with 11.8 boards and 2.8 blocks per game.

Nikola Mirotic (18.3 points on 70.7 true shooting), Jrue Holiday (27.8 points, 6.5 assists) and Rajon "Playoff" Rondo (11.3 points, 13.3 assists, 7.5 rebounds) all helped, but Davis' presence extends to everything the Pelicans do successfully.

His rim protection allows for Holiday to gamble more, his court-stretching (while not elite) is enough to help open driving lanes for Rondo and Holiday, and his gravity allows Mirotic to get plenty of open looks.

He was the MVP of this series, but he didn't have to do it alone.

1. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers

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To clearly see LeBron James' value to the Cavs, consider this: He has scored or assisted on 316 of the Cavaliers' 599 points this postseason. If you just look at the minutes he's on the court, he's accounted for 65.9 percent of their points.

He leads the team in points, rebounds, assists and blocks. He's tied with Larry Nance Jr. for second in steals with five.

The on/off stats are almost meaningless because James has been on the court for 243 of the 288 minutes the Cavs have played. The Cavaliers have scored only 80 points while he rested, though.

When you add in things like the Game 5 heroics, where LeBron James had a game-saving block followed by a game-winning buzzer-beater, it's hard to consider anyone—even Davis—as more valuable to his team.

The thing you're worried about if you're Cleveland, though, is if it takes this much from the King to get past Indiana, do they really have enough to get to the Finals?